


Will They or Won't They?

by alley_oops, jennandanica



Series: Any Time, Any Place [1]
Category: Actor RPF, True Blood RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 06:23:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2537492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alley_oops/pseuds/alley_oops, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennandanica/pseuds/jennandanica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1994, a twenty-year-old Alex meets a fourteen-year-old Luke in the small town of Aberbargoed, Wales.</p>
<p><b>Warnings:</b> 'consensual' (emotionally if not legally) underage (14/20), discussion of bullying/non-con at school, fudging of ages (6 years instead of a rl!3)</p>
<p>
  <i>It's not often they finish up early enough on a Saturday for Luke to join the other kids at the Youth Center. But today there were even fewer people home than usual and his mum had one of her migraines so his dad agreed he could disappear for a few hours. A few hours in which he can slip into jeans and a t-shirt and a worn old jean jacket and pretend he's like everyone else. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Stepping into the center, he nods at a couple of mates and heads straight for the snack bar, what's meant to be a cursory glance at the rest of the place stopping stock-still when it lands on a stranger. God. Hot, blond, towering over everyone else, even Luke, and definitely older.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will They or Won't They?

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone familiar with the [RPG Citadel](http://citadel.dreamwidth.org/read), this is NOT backstory for our pups in the game. In Citadel, Alex and Luke are only 3 years apart in age and they didn't meet until they were in their 30s. But Sally and I are convinced our boys would fall for each other in any universe, in any incarnation, and we wondered what would have happened if a younger Alex had met an even younger Luke before Luke got out of the small town he was raised in.

"I don't know, Kelsi. Are you sure?" Alex hunches into his jacket against the rain, watching as his diminutive cousin pulls open the door and waves them in.

"Alex! I've told you, like, five times already. Just because it's a Youth Center doesn't mean that only kids come here. Folk from all of Caerphilly come here. Bargoed, Markham, Argoed..."

"They really have a Bargoed and an Argoed _and_ an Aberbargoed?" Alex's younger brother Gustaf shoves his long bangs out of his eyes and looks around for girls close to his age, even as he tries to not _look_ like he's looking. "What the fuck?"

"Gustaf, _inte vara vidrig_ ," Eija chides, and adds to Kelsi, "he is just showing off. Can we get beers here?" 

Kelsi rolls her eyes and shrugs out of her rain-damp jacket. "I can't. But they have lots of flavours of pop, and they fry the chips up for you fresh. Those are delish."

"He is delish!" Eija murmurs, pointing out a tall young man playing at one of the pool tables.

"Oh my god, stop pointing!" Kelsi exclaims, bright spots of colour rising on her cheeks in an instant. "That's one of the most popular boys in all my school. His name is Jacob and he has an older brother who moved to Cardiff last year and _everyone_ was talking about it because he..."

As the girls move off towards the tables, their voices blend in with the hum of noise filling the large room, a mix of conversations and laughter and Chumbawumba thumping from the speakers. "I don't know," Alex mutters again, still trying to see if there is anyone over 18 in the entire place. "Maybe if we--"

But when he looks over for Gustaf, he discovers his brother has already abandoned him in pursuit of a blonde girl in a mini-skirt. " _Fuck_ ," Alex whispers. At six foot four he stands out in any crowd, but in an environment like this, full of kids who don't even look old enough to apply to Uni, he feels like the proverbial elephant in the room. Hunching his shoulders a bit, he shoves his hands casually into the pockets of his baggy jeans and strolls past the lounge area, where a few teenagers are puppy-piling on one of the old sofas and laughing uproariously. A couple kids are tentatively making out on a couch, and just beyond, two girls are sitting at a table and giggling while they suck on cheap cigarettes, obviously trying to look older than they are. Just beyond them is the snack bar, a huge chalkboard menu hanging on the wall with options written in both English and vowel-less gibberish – _Welsh_ , his mind corrects him. Beyond the pool tables there is a row of arcade games, plus pinball machines and a couple air hockey tables and... Fuck, he is too old for this. He is _twenty_ already, for fuck's sake. But My Skarsgard and her sister Vella had shoved their older children together with an admonishment for Kelsi to "take them somewhere fun, it's so wet out." And, actually, Alex happens to rock at air hockey. But still, a fucking Youth Center? They passed a pub on the walk here; maybe he should head back down the street and try his luck. He likes older women, he even dated a 26 year-old once and she had taught him a few very useful new skills. But as they'd passed the pub he'd peeked through the windows and all he'd seen in the way of patrons was middle-aged dudes and then older dudes and then some genuinely old dudes, all sitting around in their jumpers and fishermen's caps and getting their drink on. Surely there's at least one pretty girl over the age of 16 in this godforsaken tiny town...

It's not often they finish up early enough on a Saturday for Luke to join the other kids at the Youth Center. But today there were even fewer people home than usual and his mum had one of her migraines so his dad agreed he could disappear for a few hours. A few hours in which he can slip into jeans and a t-shirt and a worn old jean jacket and pretend he's like everyone else. 

Stepping into the center, he nods at a couple of mates and heads straight for the snack bar, what's meant to be a cursory glance at the rest of the place stopping stock-still when it lands on a stranger. God. Hot, blond, towering over everyone else, even Luke, and definitely older.

Fuck Kelsi's opinion on the matter. Alex is too old for this, too damn _mature_ for this scene, and there's no way in Hell that he's going to fucking spend his Saturday night this way. He turns to leave, but as he does his absent gaze crosses that of a tall dark-haired young man maybe two meters away. It would be easy to keep going like nothing ever distracted him, except that he gets the feeling this boy - guy? - was watching him first. A brief burning moment of eye contact between the two of them surprises Alex... And he abruptly realizes that East Bumfuck, Wales, is one of the _last_ fucking places he wants to get caught ogling another guy. So he gives the mystery kid a quick smile and a shrug, then strides towards the exit, determined to get the hell out before someone else catches on to his obvious - and so inappropriate - interest in the stranger.

Luke waits a beat, stunned, but positive he saw something in that look, before turning on his heel and following the guy. "You're not from around here, are you?" he asks, drawing up beside him before the stranger can reach the door.

"Not even close." Surprised at being addressed, Alex looks over and grins at... yep, definitely a mystery. The young man is nearly six feet tall, strong features in a baby face, a voice of thick dark velvet underlying it all. Alex doesn't know what to think, age-wise. "I'm visiting from Sweden. Do you know Kelsi Penrose? She is my cousin."

"I've seen her around school," Luke says. "But I don't know her." Although he's sure he's been to her house – along with every other in the area. "Are you here for long?" 

"Just a few more days," Alex answers, turning to face the young man fully and taking advantage of the opportunity to look him over more thoroughly. "I'm Alex. You live here?"

Luke nods. "Born and raised in Aberbargoed." He smiles at Alex, who is even more gorgeous up close than he'd thought. "I'm Luke."

"Luke." Alex nods, staring at the young man's - boy's? Fuck, he can't get a good read - face. He gestures towards the noise and chaos of the Youth Center around them. "Why are you hanging out here?"

Luke grins. "There aren't exactly a whole lot of options around here," he says. "Hang out with the kids or hang out with the old folks." He shrugs. "This is better."

"Oh." Alex nods, and cranes his neck to see through the reflective glare of wide windows and determine whether it's still raining outside. Not that it makes much difference to him one way or another. "I'm going to take a walk. It's kind of crowded here."

"Want some company?" Luke says quickly, not caring that he promised his parents he'd be here and only here.

"Yeah." Alex's acceptance is easy, automatic. He pushes open the front door and holds it for Luke, turning his face away from the hard spray of rain that gusts up. Then he grins. "Wandering around country I don't know, in the dark and in the rain, I definitely should take a local with me." He laughs and lets the heavy door swing shut behind them. "Are you going to protect me from the dangerous Welsh wildlife?"

"Definitely. I'll save you from the ravenous voles," Luke promises with a laugh. "We can hide out in one of the alleyways."

Alex laughs, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets and falling into step next to the other guy. "There are voles? What is that?" he asks, turning his head to watch Luke as they walk. There's a buzzing sensation in his brain, a tingling in his blood, and he feels like he could listen to Luke's rich velvety voice for hours on end.

"It's a kind of rodent – like a mouse, only stouter," Luke says with a smile. "Completely harmless. At least to us." Wondering how they're ever going to get from this conversation to something where he can put a move on Alex.

"Harmless, ah. But what about these woods?" Alex asks, turning in a slow circle to look at where the treetops are imprinted against the night sky. "Do you know this place well enough that we won't get lost?"

Luke nods, suddenly hopeful. "Know it like the back of my hand," he says, already steering them in deeper.

"Cool." Alex brushes a few chilly drops of water from the back of his neck. "So, what about you?" he asks, but his next words don't hold a trace of a question. "You're done with school."

"Almost," Luke says, the lie coming easily, borne out of sheer desperation.

"Almost?" Alex chuckles, and it occurs to him to wonder just why he's asking. "What does that mean?"

"I'm done next year," Luke says, figuring that makes him old enough. Legal at least. "You?"

"Yeah. I start in the Navy next week. They will cut my hair," Alex says with a laugh, pushing his long bangs off of his forehead. He looks up at the sky; either the rain is tapering off, or the trees are simply too thick to allow it through. "Where are we going?"

The Navy? Then Alex is definitely at least eighteen. Way older than the boys at school. "There's a shelter through here a bit – with picnic benches and charcoal pits. No one ever comes out at night. Definitely not in the rain."

"All right." _Jesus, what the fuck are we doing?_ Alex can't figure Luke out, doesn't know what's driving him to be wandering around in the dark with a stranger; truly, he's half expecting to be jumped, although he doesn't have the faintest clue why anyone would bother. Yet there was that _look_ – so brief he might have imagined it... Maybe that's why they're out here.

"You have a girlfriend at home?" Luke asks casually, pushing aside a few branches.

"No." Alex's senses go on full-alert with that question, considering that most guys don't give a shit whether their mates have girls or not. "Just... people, here and there. You know?" That should be safely vague enough. "What about you? Is, um, Agarbarbrood a secret hotbed of sexy women?"

Luke laughs. "Aberbargoed's not a hotbed of anything except boredom," he says with a smile, adding "here we are," as they step into a large clearing with a covered shelter at its centre. _People_ having given him even more hope, his heart starting to race. Alex is hands down the hottest guy he's ever seen in this town and the fact that he's not from here, that only makes it better. He heads for one of the picnic benches, turning to lean against the end. 

Alex ambles along behind, then stops in place to turn a slow circle under the stars. And he looks at Luke, sizing him up. _Cards on the table_. "Do you do this often? Invite total strangers deep into the dark of the woods to... talk?"

Luke blushes hard, feeling every one of his fourteen years. "No." Shaking his head. "We don't get many strangers and none of them have looked like you."

With slow measured steps, Alex enters the pavilion and closes the space between them. "So, when you can't catch foreigners," he asks, near enough now to feel the heat of anticipation rising from Luke's body, "what do you do with locals?"

"With a few locals," Luke corrects, suddenly not wanting Alex to think he's the village slut. "You can have my mouth or my ass," he continues with a bravado he doesn't entirely feel now that they're here and Alex is looming over him. But God he wants this. Wants it like he doesn't remember ever wanting anything - or anyone - else.

Alex reaches out and trails the back of his hand along Luke's cheekbone, studying him. Then he tangles his fingers in Luke's hair, clenching his fist and dragging the young man's head back. He invades his mouth, fucking him with his tongue.

Luke moans into Alex's mouth, trembling under the assault before he reacts, hunger and need returned. He drags Alex's jean jacket from his hips, dropping it on the table behind them, his hands under Alex's shirt a moment later, cock jerking sharply at the feel of warm solid skin beneath his palms.

Shivering, Alex chuckles, "Your hands are cold." Like he cares. In the next moment he grabs Luke's hips and sets him on the table, damn near climbing on top of him for another explosive kiss. 

Tongues tangling, no, dueling, Luke whimpers and moans, giving as good as he's getting, his hands now at Alex's jeans, palming him through the denim. _Holy fuck_.

Alex growls hungrily and swats Luke's hand away so he can grind against him, rubbing their erections hard against each other. Lust explodes in his veins and he doesn't even stop to wonder how he got here, with this gorgeous stranger, in a completely unfamiliar - and therefore dangerous - place. He couldn't fucking care less when it just feels so damn good.

Oh God. This is nothing like the boys from school with their awkward advances and furtive fumbling. This is a real man with real needs and a cock like something out of a fucking porno and before Luke can even get out that he needs Alex to slow down, he's coming, hot and wet in his own jeans.

His brain hurtling forward at light speed, it takes Alex a long moment to notice the sudden dampness. To process what just happened. Abruptly he pulls back from the kiss, standing up straight and staring down at Luke in shock. "You..." he begins, and realizes he's got nowhere to go with that. Belatedly, he starts to become aware of details that he really should have noticed an hour ago, back under the glaring fluorescent lights of the Youth Center. A light growth of peach fuzz on those baby-soft cheeks. Pubescent acne stubbornly lingering on Luke's forehead. Trainers so incredibly beaten-up that they go beyond grunge fashion and into shoes no self-respecting gay man would _ever_ wear. "How... how old did you say you were?"

"Seventeen," Luke manages to get out, unable to look Alex in the eye, so mortified he wishes the ground beneath them would open and swallow him up.

Alex continues to stare, and the need that was raging so strongly in him just moments ago is now replaced by uneasiness crawling up his spine. "You're lying," he says softly, although he's not sure... No, scratch that. He's scared now that he _is_ sure.

Fuck. Luke doesn't know whether to keep on or not. He's pretty sure he's gone and fucked up everything anyway. He looks away, staring into the inky darkness around them, his cheeks flaming. "I'm fourteen."

_Shit!_ "Shit!" Alex yells, panic flooding him in an instant. He looks around wildly, trying to penetrate the thick of the woods with his eyes. Terrified now that someone might be watching them. "Fucking fourteen? Are you insane?" he berates Luke, dropping his volume but none of the fierceness. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life in some fucking Wales prison! And if I ever get back to Sweden then they'll probably just – what is it? – just court-martial me, for... for behavior unbecoming a sailor or some shit like that." He bends over and braces his hands on his knees, head down. "Fuck!"

"No one's going to find out," Luke insists, looking back at Alex. "I told you no one ever comes out here, and like I'm going to tell anyone. Do you have any fucking idea what it's like to be gay in a town like this? My parents are Jehovah's Witnesses for Christ's sake! I just spent the whole day going from house to house spreading God's word," the bitterness in his voice only growing. He hates this town. Hates being the way he is here. 

The genuine pain infusing Luke's words sneaks past Alex's defenses, digging a foothold even in spite of his panic. He forces himself to blow out a long slow breath. Then he goes and sits down on the bench, next to where Luke is still on the table. Dragging his fingers through his hair, he focuses. When he speaks again, his voice is much softer as well as much gentler. "Are you the only one?" he asks. "I mean, you said you've hooked up some... You know some other gay kids?"

"They're not gay. They just don't mind fucking me or getting their cocks sucked," Luke says, the dampness in his jeans growing distinctly uncomfortable.

_Fuck_. Alex blows out another breath, trying to ignore the relentless throbbing of his cock which couldn't be wholly suppressed by his sudden panic. Half turning, he reaches his hand out to Luke. "Come here," he says softly, the loneliness surrounding the boy - and Alex understands now, he is still very much a boy - piercing his heart.

Taking Alex's hand, Luke shifts towards him, torn between seeking comfort and shunning pity.

"No. Here," Alex insists, and pulls Luke even closer so he can wrap his arms around him, the boy snugged up tight against his side. He rests his cheek lightly on Luke's hair and murmurs, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Luke presses in, comfort winning out. "I'm sorry I lied."

Blowing out a breath, Alex lets it go. "That's okay," he says quietly, rubbing Luke's back. "I'm pretty sure I understand." The last is delivered in a dead-level tone that suggests there's no _pretty_ sure about it. "I know."

Luke looks at Alex. "We could still do it," he says, carefully laying a hand on the other man's thigh. "No one's coming out here and I'll never tell. _Please_."

Alex raises an eyebrow and forces himself to give Luke a skeptical look. "Do... what, exactly?"

"You could fuck me," Luke says softly, sliding his hand slowly higher. 

_Fuck!_ That hand, damn it, Alex should shove it away right this instant, he knows, he knows... Fuck, he's weak. "Luke, I—" he says, then tries again. "I'm not being conceited about this – my prick is huge. And you're... new. It'll hurt you like hell," he tells the boy, turning to meet his eyes, depthless and dark in the starlight. "I don't have any, like, oil with me, and spit will not work at all."

"I have a rubber," Luke says, undeterred. "It's lubed and I bet I can take more than you think," he adds, fingers curling around that still-hard ridge through Alex's jeans, his hole fluttering hard at the size of it.

Alex tries - not very successfully - to swallow a groan. "You're only fourteen," he whispers, feeling his cock throb with need. "I'm twenty. Are you sure you really want it to go this way?"

"Are you kidding?" Luke asks, fingers moved to stroking, determined not to have Alex change his mind. "You're the hottest bloke I've ever seen in real life and probably the only chance I'm going to get for a long time to have someone fuck me who isn't pretending I'm a girl."

The "real life" comment bemuses Alex, but he can hardly spare a brain cell to wonder at it. "No, not a girl," he agrees, and takes Luke's mouth in a hungry kiss. "I wouldn't want you that way." It's a few seconds yet, but when his body finally starts to move of its own accord, he wonders why he ever bothered fighting. "I need you to stand up. Bend over the end of the table."

On his feet in a second, his cock already half-hard again, Luke fishes in his pocket for the rubber which he hands to Alex before turning to brace himself against the end of the table, his jeans and wet underwear shoved halfway down his thighs.

"Ohhh, god. I'm going to hell," Alex sighs, stepping up behind Luke and all but drooling at the sight. "You are so perfect," he whispers, wanting the boy to be sure that he is in no way to blame for Alex's misgivings. He lays one hand on the curve of a pale ass cheek, and reverently traces his finger down the cleft. And despite his denial of earlier, he sucks a finger into his mouth and gets it good and wet before slowing pushing it inside Luke's incredibly tight hole.

"Unh." Luke gasps, cock jerking sharply as he pushes back onto that finger. "Oh, fuck... please..." A quick "more" added, just in case that's not clear.

"You've done this," Alex states in that same dead-level tone of earlier. Carefully he slips a second finger inside. "How many times?"

Luke moans, hole clenching around those fingers, trying to pull them deeper. "Which?" he blurts out. "Been fingered or fucked?"

"Fucked," Alex clarifies, hooking to rub the boy's sweet spot. Rocking into him. He's beginning to think that he should stick to a good hard finger-fucking, fairly satisfying and yet not involving his cock at all. That would be wiser, sure.

Luke cries out softly with the touch to his prostate, his cock dripping despite his earlier orgasm. "Four," he whispers, gasping, his body hungry for still more. "Four times for real." He doesn't count the others.

Alex raises an eyebrow. "You can have four of my fingers."

Luke looks over at his shoulder at Alex. "And your cock, right? You're going to fuck me." Desperate to know that's how things will end. Because he needs this. Needs it to shove all those awful times with the boys from his school from his mind. Needs it to promise him things will get better. That they _can_ be different.

The arousing motion of his fingers stops, and Alex gives Luke a hard look. He chews on his bottom lip. "I will start," he says finally, knowing that Luke surely has no idea what a huge concession that is for him. "And the second it's too much for you, then you will tell me. Got it?" He threads his fingers through Luke's hair and yanks his head back harshly. " _Tell me_ ," he orders, needing this to be absolutely clear. "If you need me to stop, then you yell at me to stop. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Wide-eyed, Luke nods against Alex's grip, for the first time actually frightened of the man and what he may have gotten himself into. 

"Okay," Alex murmurs grudgingly. He releases his tight grip and pets Luke's hair, then spits into his palm, adding the moisture to the three fingers he works in and out of Luke. Resigned to the inevitability now – knowing that there's no possible way he can resist the boy's invitation. To sink inside that sweet body, to take.

Luke moans, planting his hands more firmly on the table as he rocks back onto those fingers, the stretch making his cock ache, drip, his balls already drawing up again. Christ. He has to make it to having Alex inside him this time. "Feels so good," he slurs, eyes half-closed.

"Good," Alex echoes, attempting to shove all his worries aside for just a few critical moments. He tears the foil square open with his teeth, unzipping his jeans and swiftly sheathing himself in rubber. Holding Luke's cheeks apart with one hand, he nudges the blunt head of his cock against that impossibly tiny hole. Then slowly - but with stubborn determination - he begins to push inside.

"Oh God." Luke sucks in a harsh breath but in the next second slaps a hand back on Alex's hip, keeping him close. "Don't stop. I'll say if it's too much," he promises.

"I'm trusting you," Alex replies, his voice a soft warning. Christ, the last time he had an ass this tight it was a woman's, and it had been her first time trying anal... She'd bucked him off and then spent a good five minutes sobbing. Now he focuses on Luke, his ears perked to pick up the slightest sound of pleasure, even as his legs are spread and braced so that he doesn't hit the ground too hard if Luke suddenly fights him off.

Alex's cock is bigger, thicker, than anything Luke's had inside him but if there's one thing Luke already knows about himself, it's that he's a slut for having things in his ass. Fingers, cocks, shampoo bottles... If it's been safe and he could try it, he has. But this? Being split open like this? It's better than any fantasy he's ever had. "Fuck," he moans, but it's clear he's not complaining, "you're so big..." Not with the way he's pushing back for more. Taking Alex deeper.

Once the first few inches of Alex's cock are buried inside, he wraps his hands around Luke's hips and edges just a fraction deeper. Then he slowly slides out to the head. Then back inside, repeat, until he is well and truly fucking Luke, each thrust smooth and deep.

Moaning with pleasure at every thrust, Luke angles his hips back, offering himself up as the stretch eases and muscle relaxes. "Yes, yes, fuck... fuck me... harder... please, Alex..." he begs, knowing the man behind him - inside him - is holding back. That he doesn't have all of him. Not even close.

"Harder?" Alex mumbles, like he's not totally sure he heard right. But he rolls with it, putting more force behind each thrust, slamming inside – hand-in-hand with pushing deeper inside Luke's hot body each time, and he waits on edge for the young man to scream _enough!_

Luke whimpers, on the edge of coming again. He can't push back now, the force of Alex's thrusts too great, but he braces himself more firmly against the table and spreads his thighs a little more, offering the man behind him an even better angle in which to go deeper. "Oh God, yes, fuck me, fuck my hole," he urges, cock jerking and cheeks flaming at using the words he's always wanted to use.

"Are you going to come for me, boy?" Alex asks, his voice a low growl. Luke's responses are setting him on fire, and he bends his knees slightly, groaning as at last he sheathes his cock to the hilt. _Holy fuck!_ "Come with my cock buried inside you, a real man fucking you?" He digs his fingertips into the boy's hips, knowing he's marking that gorgeous pale skin.

Luke nods and starts to respond but he's already there, wailing as the words sink in and his climax hits, body wracked with a pleasure greater than anything he's ever experienced.

Alex cuts off a shout, managing to redirect it in a whispered jumble of Swedish oaths. Luke's body is almost _too_ tight now, and he waits until the young man's muscles begin relaxing once more before he starts to rock against him again. Then he simply goes all out, driving deep and hard for three more thrusts, four – and he unravels, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip harshly enough to draw blood, his mind whiting out with ecstasy. It's a very long moment before he musters up enough awareness to take hold of the condom and gently ease out. 

Whimpering as Alex withdraws, Luke sags against the table, trembling, completely overwhelmed. His ass _hurts_ but he doesn't care, his mind blown with pleasure.

Tying off the rubber, Alex tosses it into a nearby wastebin, then sets his jeans to rights. And then he takes care of Luke's clothing, making the boy respectable once more – on the outside, anyway. The rain has finally stopped altogether and he eyes the boy closely. Yeah, he can relate to that shell-shocked look. He's actually feeling a bit of it himself at the moment, and that definitely wasn't in his plans for the evening. Sitting down on the bench once more, he pulls Luke half into his lap, wrapping around him as best he can.

Since it seems to be on offer, Luke snuggles in close, his eyes stinging for a moment, threatening tears, before he forces them back. This is something he _never_ gets. This intimacy, this closeness, the sense that any of his casual partners actually _want_ to be with him. "Thank you," he whispers.

Alex isn't quite sure what to say to that; surely it should be himself expressing gratitude? But he softly grunts acknowledgment and goes on rubbing Luke's back. "Was this really so different from what you normally find?" He expects that he knows Luke's answer, but he has to ask anyway.

"Yes." Luke nods and presses still closer, hoping Alex won't mind. "When are they expecting you back?" he asks, not wanting to linger on the subject of his own shitty life. 

"Who cares? I have the direction for my aunt's house," Alex replies. He's relaxing fully now, the paranoia and anxiety of earlier giving way to a feeling of well-satisfied peacefulness. Luke feels good in his arms, comforting, and if Alex is providing him comfort as well then so much the better.

Luke smiles. "When do you go home?" he asks, warring with himself over whether to suggest they might meet again.

"Day after tomorrow, I think," Alex answers, and brushes a kiss over Luke's throat. "Hey. I need you to do something for me."

"What's that?" Luke asks, the kiss making him smile even more.

"Promise yourself that you will get out of this town."

"I will," Luke says. "Right after school, I'm going to go to Cardiff." He looks up at Alex. "Could we meet again before you leave? If you have time?" 

Alex huffs a soft laugh of disbelief, but even so, he can't resist brushing his lips over Luke's. Then again. And then settling into a long languorous kiss. It's not that he's avoiding the question... much. It's mostly just that kissing Luke is turning out to be a surprisingly sensual experience.

Alex might be putting Luke off but if he is, he's doing it in the most delicious way. Luke wraps an arm around the older man's neck and kisses him back, his whole body humming with how good it feels.

Running his fingers through Luke's hair, Alex keeps him close and tastes him again and again. It's only when he becomes aware of the swelling weight in his jeans that he makes himself ease back. "I should go," he murmurs. "Can I walk you home? Or will that just make trouble for you?"

Luke checks his watch, the Indiglo blue confirming his suspicions. "You can walk me. My parents'll be asleep by now," he says, reluctantly easing himself from Alex's lap.

"Good," Alex whispers, his smile winking in the darkness. He of course wants to make sure Luke is safe... But he's also not yet ready to say goodbye. "Are you okay to walk?" he asks, getting to his feet. "How much pain are you in?"

"I'm sore," Luke admits, "but it's a good sore." Blushing just a little. "So you don't need to carry me," he says with a soft laugh.

"Okay." Those flushed cheeks, combined with a smile that's nearly shy... Fire laces Alex's blood. He gestures towards the direction they came from. "Lead on," he invites, and in the same breath asks, "Do you have any trouble with the kids at school?"

"For being gay or Jehovah's Witness?" Luke says, a note of bitterness instantly tingeing his voice. He sighs. "It's not as bad as it could be. No one tries to beat me up or anything, but they whisper, make nasty remarks. Corner me sometimes."

Alex frowns fiercely in the darkness, and he grabs for Luke's hand without thinking about it. "They'd better not touch you," he growls, a wave of protectiveness rushing over him. Christ, why do people have to be such assholes? "These next four years... They will probably suck for you. Because they're supposed to, you know?" Stopping in place, he turns and slips his arms around the young man. "You will survive them. And then you'll get out, and your life will be a million times better."

"Promise?" Luke says with a smile, knowing there's no way Alex can but he appreciates the sentiment.

"Yes." Alex nods, studying Luke's eyes in the starlight. "You'll make your life good. Take every opportunity and run with it."

"Speaking of which – you didn't answer me when I asked about us meeting up again before you go," Luke points out.

For an instant, Alex hesitates. He doesn't want to give too much away, doesn't want to create false hope for a young man who is in such a vulnerable situation... "I want to see you again," he breathes, then shrugs off any last shred of pretense. "You must know that already. You're so good, Luke. And I like being with you." He strokes his thumb over the back of Luke's hand, trying to contrive solutions for unsolvable problems. "It's just... Is there any place more secret than this?"

Luke nods. "If you want to meet me by the old cemetery, we can head up into the hills. There are lots of places up there." 

"Spooky." Alex cracks a grin, then dips to lick slowly over Luke's mouth. "I think I am definitely going to hell. But I want you."

"Mm." Luke shivers and gives Alex's hand a squeeze. "I wish I was already older," he says, gently pulling the other man along in the direction of his house.

Alex sighs, still somewhat appalled by his own behavior – as well as freaked out by the fact that he isn't _more_ appalled. "Yeah, well. Someday."

Luke smiles. Walking like this, with Alex, it's almost like he has a boyfriend and for a few minutes at least it's a lot easier to believe that things really will get better. "What about you?" he asks. "Did you ever have problems with kids at school?"

With a shrug, Alex replies, "Kids are always cruel to each other. And teenagers? They're the worst." He huffs a soft laugh. "And I have so many younger brothers, so I was always getting into fights with the kids who bothered them. Also the stupid boys my sister dated."

"Lucky them," Luke says, eyes flickering between Alex and the path around them, making sure they don't get caught like this. "I'm an only."

Alex's brow furrows and he tries to imagine such an alien existence. "Is it really lonely in your house? Just you and your parents? Must be quiet."

Luke nods, bumping their shoulders together. "My dad's really involved with the church and my mum spends a lot of her time doing stuff with the house. I have some cousins who live just outside Cardiff but we don't see them very often." 

"Do you like them? Your cousins, I mean."

"Yeah, they're fun. My dad doesn't like me spending much time with them since they're not Witnesses but I get to see them in the summer and at my grandparents' sometimes." He smiles over at Alex and, certain they're alone, leans in and impetuously plants a kiss on the corner of the other man's mouth.

Grinning at the impulsive kiss, Alex stops to reel Luke in for a longer one. "But... you? When did you know that you're not a, a Witness?"

Every kiss Alex gives Luke scrambles his brain and this one's no exception. He smiles, dazed, having to concentrate on bringing his thoughts back online before he answers, with a soft shrug, "As soon as I figured out I liked guys. You can't be gay and be a Witness – or act on it anyway and be one."

"And when did you figure out that you were gay?" Alex asks, his mouth twitching into a smile.

Luke shrugs again. "I don't know. It's kind of felt like I've always known, but putting a real label on it? Probably since I was ten. All my mates were going on about this new girl at school and I just felt nothing – until I looked at her brother."

"Mmm, that one. I get that," Alex murmurs as they start walking again, keeping hold of Luke's hand. "For me, though, I always wanted the threesome with the hot girl _and_ her hot brother." He laughs. "You're not into girls at all? Totally gay?"

"Yeah. I mean, I had sex with this girl last year and she was really into it and I could do it but it wasn't really any different for me than jerking off. It wasn't anything like being with you," Luke adds, cheeks flushed.

"Less satisfying?" Alex asks, deliberately dropping his voice to a throaty rumble and leaning in to graze his lips along Luke's jaw. "But you've come out? Or people at your school just know?"

"More like they found out and I didn't deny it," Luke says softly.

Alex watches him, studying Luke's chiseled profile - yeah, he thought it - in the starlight. "And you're, what? Shagging the football team in secret?" God, his heart hurts.

"No." Luke's cheeks flame further. "There was one guy and I thought he actually liked me but he just told all his friends and it was just easier to give in than fight them."

"Fuckin' Christ," Alex mutters, blowing out a breath. Luke's words call up vivid images in his mind, agony surging until all he can think to do is channel it into kicking some fucking heads in. "You have friends, though. Right? A couple good friends? You only really need one or two, if they're good to you and they're, you know, loyal."

Luke nods. "A couple. I have people I hang out with. It's not like I'm being constantly harassed. It's just hard in a small town like this. Once you've got a reputation for anything, you're stuck. There's no reinventing yourself."

Nodding, Alex brings Luke's hand to his lips for a surreptitious kiss. "Maybe you'll find you don't even want to stop in Cardiff. Maybe you'll continue on to London, or even New York... And you can reinvent yourself as much as you want. But make sure when you do it that it's to make _yourself_ happy. Don't do it because of pressure from other people. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yeah." Luke nods, skin tingling where Alex's lips have touched. "What about you?" he asks, suddenly conscious of just how much he's gone on about himself and his problems. "Do you want to stay in the Navy?"

Alex shakes his head. "I have to serve for two years; we all do. But after that... I don't know. I have tried some different things, but I don't really know what I want yet."

"And there's no one back home?" Luke asks, regretting the question almost instantly. It's not like it's any of his business even though he _was_ just asking out of simple curiosity.

"What? You mean like, someone special who is waiting for me?" Alex lets go of Luke's hand, but bumps his shoulder companionably. And he grins. "No. I'm only twenty." It's funny how it has seemed so _old_ all night, but now he feels like he's much too young. "I don't want to fall in love forever and ever, not just yet. I would miss out on too many people!"

Luke laughs. "I wouldn't mind having someone special. Not for the long term but you know, an actual boyfriend."

"Yeah, I get that. Being lonely sucks." Alex's voice is soft now, and he sternly reminds himself that it is _not_ his job to wrap Luke up in cashmere and ensure that he is never hurt again. "Just remember: four years. It won't last forever, I swear to you."

"I know," Luke says, turning to face Alex. "This is me." He nods at a laneway over his shoulder. "We should probably say goodbye here but I'll meet you by the cemetery tomorrow. What time?"

"Ummm. I don't know. Ten?" Alex asks, watching Luke. "Is there more than one entrance?"

"Not officially," Luke responds with a grin. "But just head around back. I'll find you." He wraps his arms around Alex's neck and kisses him softly.

Immediately Alex catches him and embraces him tighter, going for a long, deep kiss. When finally he straightens up again, it's a long moment before he can stop staring at Luke's mouth. "Okay. Tomorrow," he whispers, and lets go.

Head spinning, Luke forces himself to take a step back, towards his house, before he does something _really_ stupid. "Tomorrow." Giving Alex a quick wave before he turns on his heel and heads down the laneway without looking back. God. He is so fucked.


End file.
